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Creating video games is creative, fun, and cool. Loads of awesome people are doing it right now. And you can be one of those awesome people! To celebrate, the friendly folk at Oxeye Game Studio are hosting a Cobalt Game Jam this weekend.

That basically means that a bunch of folk have agreed to make a game within a set time limit. Some participants are streaming their progress too; it’s a great way to get instant feedback and stay motivated.

The Oxeye Game Jam is a casual affair. There’s no pressure or cost, but there is an extremely high chance of fun and increased knowledge. The jam finishes this Sunday at 12:00 CET.

If you’re interested in taking part, or would like to watch the current participants cook up their creations, visit the Cobalt channel on Espernet, check out Daniels post on the Oxeye Blog, and watch and inspire these good folk as they craft their own masterpieces:

As soon as this deal is finalized, I will leave Mojang and go back to doing Ludum Dares and small web experiments. If I ever accidentally make something that seems to gain traction, I’ll probably abandon it immediately.

Considering the public image of me already is a bit skewed, I don’t expect to get away from negative comments by doing this, but at least now I won’t feel a responsibility to read them.

I’m aware this goes against a lot of what I’ve said in public. I have no good response to that. I’m also aware a lot of you were using me as a symbol of some perceived struggle. I’m not. I’m a person, and I’m right there struggling with you.

I love you. All of you. Thank you for turning Minecraft into what it has become, but there are too many of you, and I can’t be responsible for something this big. In one sense, it belongs to Microsoft now. In a much bigger sense, it’s belonged to all of you for a long time, and that will never change.

It’s not about the money. It’s about my sanity.

Cobalt is currently being published by Mojang, with the Oxeye crew even living at the Mojang premises. Mojang handles all the business end of things, like advertising and awareness and helping the relationship with FatShark AB, who are working on the Xbox port of Cobalt.

Oxeye Game Studio has stated that though Microsoft now owns Mojang, this will not affect Oxeye or Cobalt.

Oxeye Games said:

The change in ownership of Mojang does not affect this partnership. Our deal still stands.
At Oxeye we’re always optimists. We hope and believe that Microsoft sees and understands all the good things that Mojang and Minecraft stands for, that they understand the importance of the awesome community that has gathered around Minecraft and Mojang and sees what aspects of the brand and the company that are essential for it to continue to thrive: Open, honest communication and free reigns for the developers.

You may find Oxeye's full response here.
Everything will be fine, so try not to panic!

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Trif, our lead information gatherer over at the Oxeye Games blog, is going to be livestreaming some Cobalt multiplayer shenanigans with The Duke, our mysterious, self-proclaimed Cobalt master.

The livestream begins on the 14th of June at a yet to be released time, falling on a Saturday for most European viewers. Head over here for more and more details, as well as to suggest maps for the two to play. These can be any gamemode, any map, including your own!

Speaking of which, Janeator, one of the map-making greats, has taken it upon himself to host, or at least start, a mapjam in the livestream's honour. Like any mapjam, users are encouraged to be creative and elegant in their designs, as well as functional mapping. There is no limit to the amount of maps you manage to pump out, just as long as they fit the theme "colorful." Of course, the maps you create should probably fit within the versus and multiplayer game modes, but if you manage to create a spectacular challenge map, survival map or even an adventure, there should be no reason not to submit it.

The deadline for the mapjam is June 14, the day of the livestream, but keep in mind you ideally want to get it in beforehand in order for Trif and company to actually see it. All maps are advised to be uploaded to the Cobalt Vault, but you can provide a file hosting link on the forum thread,here. The mapjam is just for fun, and thus there is no prize or winner to be drawn from the pool of maps submitted.

If you are new to mapmaking and want to get in on the fun, editor tutorials can be found here,here and here (old). Also, don't be afraid to hit up experienced mappers with questions! Experienced mappers are encouraged to help out newcomers and newcomers are encouraged to be the best they can.

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Today, we have a guest writer for the front page, FabiotheTurtle, who is joining me on the Content Team! Take it away, Fabio!

Looks like I've got the keys to the Cobalt Forum - outstanding! Let's take her for a spin, shall we?

What do we have today?

MultiKill Mod Update!

A few days ago, the Multikill Mod (made by the amazing NeoZeroo) was updated to work in version 124h! How amazing is that?

Working without any sort of mod loader or compatibility hack, the Multikill mod adds just what it says in the title - multi-kills.

DOUBLE KILL

"But, aren't there already combos and multi-kills in the vanilla build," you ask? Well yes, yes there are. However, there are none quite like the ones that the multikill provides.

It even has a tracker up in the top right that will show you who killed what with what weapon, how much that kill counted to their score, or even if they suicided! There are Double Kills, Multi Kills, Mega Kills, Ultra Kills, Monster Kills, Ludicrous Kills… Too many kills to count!

Along with your standard post game match report - which will include kills and deaths respectively - the MultiKill mod will even include a global counter for each team, player or AI that has won games in the last session! Gone are the days of arguing with your friends over who's the better player; now you can track each game you have won.

There are also a few deathmatch/standard improvements, like more controller vibration for hits and explosions, as well as the all important laugh button.

True happiness not guaranteed.

On top of all that, each special kill, ass kick or moment of badassery is commented by the man we all know and love, the Unreal Tournament Announcer Guy! Do you really need more reasons to get this mod?

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Added a slight bonus to the jump that you do at the end of a roll to more nicely be able to climb 128 high ramps

New actor: Boom!

New actor. Wasp!

New actor: Fly!

New actor: Skullfish!

Walking reduces speed less when above max and rolling up slopes should be less slippery and stopping while fast should be less sudden and more nice!

Improved reflect so that it more nicely reflects bullets back

Tweaked the punch origin position which made it feel better both in regards to roll punching and for hitting incoming grenades as well as bullets. It can now rather nicely punch plasma balls as well as slugger bullets if you time it correctly.

Tweaked the predator AI to attack in bursts with pauses in between to make the combat with them more interesting and predictable.

Added a skill variable to ai settings on spawners. It controls the general performance of the ai in regards to response times, shooting, rolldodging and much more.

You can now carry max 3 different types of throwables, similar to ranged weapons.

Small gameplay improvements to sandy challenge maps

rolling amount is now directly connected to how much you spin which should make it more clear.

Improved air roll landing behaviour to be more smooth

Jump can now be aborted/interrupted mid jump by releasing jump. Jump is also slightly higher. You can also always jump-kick/double jump, running first makes it stronger.

New Game Mode: TEAM-STRIKE: Round-based team versus. Always 4 on 4, take over bots when you die, economy system and actor selection between each round with different classes and levels!

Survival very much reworked! Gambling, dynamic shop. waves and an actual end!

Bots now have a setting for their skill level, also an option to automatically adjust bot skills.

Spiked mines only detonate on enemies and also blink more aggressively when you approach it.

removed reloading/switching weapon penalties.

Completely reworked the combo/scoring system.

Plasma is now deflectable, but still does damage and heat. More consistent!

Missiles now get pushed around like grenades when shot. More consistent!

Weaving nut and Fresh meat now spawns a temporary spikebird and hamster.

Improved auto-aiming accuracy during bullet time effect and while using scopes.

Rebalanced bullet time factors for plasma and gyrojet.

Removed the big tile rose selector. Now it only works while hovering to replace tiles. It was getting out of hand loading wise and it was fairly unusable anyway. It was more commonly pressed accidentally which would hang the editor in a huge load.

Improved explosion feedback, clearer range of effect.

Explosives now also stun for a short while at a larger range than their damage. Force/stun from explosions range increased.

Explosives now has an exponential damage curve instead of binary damage.

Plasma weapons have been reworked and rebalanced. Instead of overheating and cooling down, it now charges up so that the first shots are more powerful. Indicated by sound and visuals

Rebalanced slugger weapons to have a clearer role. High rate of fire, less max ammo, more punch in deflect countering, slightly slightly longer range, Clearer visuals.

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Oxeye gives us an in-depth look at the future of Cobalt, including new game modes, inclusion on new platforms, introducing new players to the game in a more friendly way, and much more. Click here to read more!

Oxeye Studios said:

TEASER - SINGLE PLAYER

What we’ve been talking about so far is a part of the game that is best experience with a friend or two to play with. This has always been the core strength of Cobalt. However, not everyone has a second controller to hand over to a friend, especially not on a PC or Mac.

Our biggest challenge with Cobalt has always been to create a cohesive, progressive and non-repetitive Single Player mode. It’s been a challenge because each approach taken so far has entailed A LOT of content creation.

Our current approach is to include all the work put into multiplayer game modes, Challenges, Survival and the Adventure mode in one continues experience. Our plan right now is to have them presented in a Super Mario Bros. 3 style world map in which the player can progress and discover the game and the story.

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Players have long requested strong multiplayer support, but many argue that Cobalt has always been a "play with your friends locally" type game, best played on a couch with some buddies. That reality is coming quickly with the game's pending release on consoles. Sweet!

Quote

Microsoft executive Phil Spencer announced today during the company's Gamescom press briefing that Oxeye Game Studio's action platformer Cobalt is coming to the Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

The game is published by Minecraft developer Mojang. No release or pricing information was provided.

Cobalt was announced in 2011 and is currently available via the game's website through a paid beta.

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While Adventure mode is not yet implemented, there are many things being added to the game to support it in the future, and many awesome goodies besides. While the majority of this update focuses on stability and bug-fixes (and Mac support!), a great deal remains before the Adventure update goes live.

CHANGE LOG:

Adjusted melee attack forces. If damage is done, less counter force is excerted on yourself.

The first item in each slot are rendered on actors when not in hand.

Added ninja animations

Adjusted a bunch of maps.

Talking to actors! (related to adventure)

Peaceful actions (related to adventure)

Relations (related to adventure)

Compare item stats

Compare upgrade stats

If you time the roll to start just when the bullet hits, you will do a reflect instead of a deflect. Reflects are better in the way that they return the bullet to where it came from, and you dont get moved or affected or slowed by the hit.

Slightly less aimspeed bonus in rolling

Reworked and tweaked plasma

Enhanced railgun sounds and effects

Tweaked railgun bullet speeds closer to the higher ones.

Improved and streamlined ai with regards to destination logic

Tile color brush in editor. (press . and ,)

Certain tiles (among them the light bulbs in editor) now give off tile-corner affecting light.

Ctrl click a tile to flood fill.

More placement options to respect already placed tiles, and also to respect the physical layer (press 1 in editor)

Possible to set grid and angle snap to raycast mode which find the closest wall and sticks to that.

Glass jar tiles

New actor: Brain, spawned from metalfaces if the game mode allows it, can fly around with a small jetpack, carry small items

Items now have a size parameter. Brains can only use items such as matter prototype and slugger cobra, while shrooms and birds and such small actors can use items up to grenade launchers and such but not the largest ones such as rail vanquishers and plasma cannon.

Beam gun adapted to work with bullet time and slightly modified

Heat/Cold mechanic changed. It used to work by making your heat restoration become delays on each hit. Now you have a “peak heat” and an “average heat”. Peak heat is what kills you and is what is affected by attacks and fires. Peak heat and average heat move towards each other, and average heat in turn moves towards the environment temperature (map weather). This means that being heated if not fatal will still raise your average temperature for a while, making the peak heat restore slower.

Shield is now split into 3 different shield belts with lots of upgrades each.

Metalfaces can use the emergency action: Eject their brain upon death! Controllable from the game mode settings (default off for all except adventure) and actor spawn modifiers.

Checkpoints now work slightly differently. If you have a respawn cell (now called emergency cell), your brain actor will be teleported back to the checkpoint and the metalface will be rebuilt. If you do not have that, you can still walk back and rebuilt yourself for a cost. If you have an ally you can have the ally “rescue” you by purchasing the rescue service at the checkpoint which will teleport and rebuilt your friend. If your brain actor dies, you are dead, except if you have an ally that can carry your brain to a checkpoint and revive it for a cost.

Improved swimming

Space theme can now specify a different gravity

Tweaked slugger weapon fire rate and damage to be between the old and the new.

If outside of weapon range in the air, and using aim (duck/sneak), you will tweak your aim slightly up and down depending on your movement.

Added more radio stations, fixed so that radio channels don’t reset, added the radio jingles the current ones.

Improved dance logic and added automatic starting of dance if game detects a bpm to your actions while listening to music from a radio.

New Item: Sabre Egg.

Game now has a rather slight falling damage. You can still fall 10 screens without dying, but you will get hurt. Falling 2 screens is fairly harmless.

Stunning small enemies now only occurs while rolling onto them

Predator can now bite.

Buy/Sell Shops (adventure related)

Buy/Sell information (adventure related)

Bots pick colors too.

Ninja has a strong melee attack.

Space jellyfish now drop healing sparks when they die.

Power station tiles and power system improved. Now there are two special power stations which each require a special plug. (CTP remains unchanged). Lights, shops, locks, batteries and wire-system sockets can be powered using either a battery, power station or simply by not picking anything. Things are powered by default! Power can also be changed with triggers.

Doors have an on used action which is called when they are opened.

All things lockable have an on unlocked action which is called when they are unlocked.

Radiation! Currently caused by radioactive green blobs and radioactive fluids.